


The Sun and the Dark

by Pheasant



Series: Fire Emblem: I Ship It! [2]
Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, I Will Go Down With This Ship, Male My Unit | Kamui | Corrin, Merry Christmas, Odin's thoughts I guess, Reflection, i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-29
Updated: 2017-12-29
Packaged: 2019-02-23 07:51:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13185621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pheasant/pseuds/Pheasant
Summary: There were times that Odin knew that going to Nohr was, and always had been, his destiny. An angel in the castle, with her beauty and eternal presence, that reminded him. He admired her more than any person, man or woman, that he could ever know. He respected her as much as he respected his Uncle, a man that no one else could ever surpass in his eyes. He followed her like a lovesick puppy, in the knowledge that doing so would bring him to safety in the end. He loved her more than he could ever love anyone else and would never love anyone else after her, once she was dead and gone from whichever world she ended in. She was his light and his world; he was the darkness that tainted the air yet somehow did not poison those who knew exactly what he was. They made it work, in an odd way. They kept each other grounded and reminded the other that they were exactly where they were supposed to be.





	The Sun and the Dark

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote all of this in one go while listening to [this song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFOeVMFGSPc) on repeat. I highly recommend this video (which I did not make), despite how sad it is. I don't know how it birthed this particular story, but I love that I managed to create this anyway. As the tags say, I am a... Bit of a fan of this ship.

There were times that Odin knew that going to Nohr and fighting for Prince Leo, as well as everything else, was his destiny. During his entire life, there was nothing that could have stopped it. What proved this to him wasn’t Prince Leo and the kind yet firm way he carried himself, or the way he respected Odin no matter how he dressed and acted. It wasn’t Niles, with his dirty jokes and condescending tone that quickly turned to concern and brotherly support the second he crossed the line. It wasn’t even Prince Corrin, with his kindness and wisdom despite being the middle child of five (or nine, when the Hoshidans were taken into account). An angel in the castle, with her kind eyes and optimism that reminded him of two very different people all at once in a peculiar way, was what told Odin that he was always meant to arrive at this point and reminded him whenever he saw her.

Princess Elise was only seventeen and looked far younger, yet despite her childish dress and actions, she was the wisest and most indiscriminately kind woman in his generation that he had ever known. Her blonde pigtails were long and elegantly curled; yet even when they fell out of their ribbons and onto her shoulders, her locks never lost their radiance. Even when in danger, she would not stop until she had healed every last injured person. It didn’t matter if they were friend or foe, she would treat them the same. She reminded him so much of his mother in that way, a princess who tried too hard to save everyone else that saving herself was never the problem. Sometimes he wondered if that was why he admired her so much; if his mother had shaped his taste and expectations of women.

Her smile, though, made him think of someone else far different than the grinning blonde who had raised him and held him close like he was a treasure before she had even had him to love. Her smile was so bright even when she was sad because she knew someone had to smile and keep everyone going. Every time he saw that smile, it was like the sun; it was like looking at a shy boy who hadn’t learned to talk to people yet and lit up every time they spent time together. It reminded him of the soldier who was just a boy but wasn’t a boy anymore because he understood the things he should never have to understand. It reminded him of the boy who swore him to secrecy about how he danced until the sun’s golden face peaked above the trees because if someone mocked him for it he would never have the heart to dance again. Elise was so strong and so brave and so determined, like the best friend he had taken into a completely different world. Sometimes he wondered if that was why he respected her so much; if his friend whom he could never replace had shaped his taste and expectations of partners.

The way she walked reminded him of a woman he never knew as a child, yet as he grew older finally got to meet. They both ran everywhere, with a lightness that came from the soul and not from merely a facade. They both laughed and played like children, because if they didn’t then no one would. Never would Elise merely walk anywhere, for doing so would mean submitting to the complete monotony of life and bowing to despair. Sometimes he wondered if that was why he followed behind her so easily; if Nowi had shaped his taste and expectations of a leader.

Despite how much she reminded him of the people from his home, of the people that he loved and missed, Odin always knew that Elise was her own person and not any of the people he had left behind. She stood on her own two feet, but she held onto the hands of those she loved because she knew the pain of letting them go. She forged a new era of peace without a thought because she knew that thinking would make her lose the moment where she could do something. Never in her life would she stop reaching for peace, like a sunflower reaching always towards the sun. At their wedding, she was nothing but herself, dressed in her usual clothes because she was delayed by helping a sick villager by the side of the road. When they lay next to each other in bed, preparing for sleep, her hair flowed around her head in waves like the rays of the sun and she knew exactly who and where she was. She never had to bear a false name and bear its burden because she could say her name with pride and without fear. When he whispered his secret, his admission of guilt, his “Odin isn’t my name,” she pressed her lips against his bare shoulder and let him feel as they spread into a smile. Then she whispered into his skin a forgiveness, a profession of love, an “I know”. Sometimes he wondered if that was why he loved her so much; if the lies that made up his life made him search for a pure honesty that could be only found in his Elise.

He would never be able to live with himself if he hurt her. She was an angel, a goddess in human form (he could even vouch for that). Yet, at the same time, he knew she was far from fragile. She could switch from the cheerful child who had seen no evil to a wise tactician with knowledge beyond her years with only a few choice words and a minuscule change in expression. She was the calm and the storm; the sun and the rain. She was a human and a goddess; a child and a mother. She was everything and anything that Odin needed and adored, and she was the reason why he knew exactly where he was supposed to be. Even when he missed his home so terribly it hurt, the blonde head resting on his chest gave him new strength to fight that damned war for a few more months and finally end with the victory. He knew who he was for the first time in a long time: He was Odin, Prince of Nohr through marriage, and Owain, Prince of Ylisse through birth. He was the dark mage that protected the grim Prince Leo, and the stubborn swordsman who fought to protect every person who wanted to live their lives without fear. He was from a war-torn land and shaped by it while seeing and being shaped by a land of peace that he helped create. He was all of his experiences all at once, and he knew that being away from the things that reminded him did not make them any less part of him. He was who he was, and he was exactly where he was supposed to be.

**Author's Note:**

> To reiterate: Elise is not underaged in this story since she is seventeen and where I grow up the age of consent is sixteen. On top of that, it is entirely possible that the age of consent and marriage is younger in Nohr than in your own culture. After all, our specific cultural norms do not dictate the cultural norms of other (real or fictional) governments or societies.


End file.
